The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-01-27


slang, even in jest. said Mrs Scott, in her
rocking chair at the French window, when
Josephine re-entered the parlor as her sister
walked briskly away II am afraid she IS
being infected by the people at tie station.
Sbe ought to have a change
II was just thinking, Y said Josephine, look
ing abstractedly at her mother 'that would
try to get John to take her to San Francisco
this winter. The Careys are expected, you
know; she might visit them"
'Im afraid if she stays here much longer
she won't care to see them at all. She seems
to care for nothing now that she ever liked
BEFORE returned the old lady ominously.
Meantime the subject of these criticisms
was carrying away her own reflections tight
ly buttoned up in her short jacket. She had
driven back her dog Spot-another one of her
disillusions, who, giving way to his lower
nature, had once killed sheep-as she did
not wish her Jacques-like contemplation Of
any wounded deer to be inconsistently inter-
rupted by a fresh outrage from her ccm-
panion. The air was really very chilly, and
for the first time in her mountain experience
the direct rays of the sun seemed to be shorn
of their power. This compelled her to walk
more briskly than she was conscious of, for
In less than an hour she came suddenly and
breathlessly upon the mouth of the canyon or
natural gateway to Eagles Court
To her always a profound spectacle of
mountain magnifceace, it seemed to-day al.
most terrible in its cold, strong grandeur.
The narrowing pass was choked for a mo-
ment between two gigantic buttresses Of
granite, approaching each other SO closely at
their towering submits that trees growing
in opposite clefts Of the rocks intermingled
their branches and pointed the soaring
Gothic arch Of stupendous gateway. She
raised her eyes with quickly beating heart.
She knew that the interlacing trees above
her were as large as those she had just quit
tes; she knew also that the point where they
met was only half way up the cliff, for she
had once gazed down upon them, dwindled
to shrubs from the airy summit; she knew
that their shaken cones fell thousand feet
perpendicularly, or bounded like shot from
the SCARED walls they bombarded. She re-
membered that one of these pines, dislodged
from its high foundations, had once dropped
like portcullis in the archway, blocking the
pass, and was only carried afterward by as
sault of steel and fire. Bending her head
mechanically. she ran swiftly through the
shadowy passage, and halted only at the be-
ginning of the ascent on the other side.
1t was here that the actual position of the
r,1o i,,da fs,,it of -
be realized. 1t now appeared an Independent
deviation, surrounded on three sides by
gorges and water courses, SO narrow as to be
overlooked from the principal mountain
range, with which it was connected by long
canyon that led to the ridge. At the outlet
Of this canyon-in bygone ages mighty
river-it had the appearance of having been
slowly raised by the diluvium of that river,
and the debris washed down from above-a
suggestion repeated in miniature by the arti-
fetal plateaus of excavated soil raised before
the mouth of mining tunnels in the lower
tanks of the mountain. 1t was the realiza-
ton of fact-often forgotten by the dwell
ers in Eagles Court-that the valley below
them, which was their connecting link with
the surrounding world was only reached by
ascending the mountain, and the nearest road
was over the higher mountain ridge. Never
before had that impressed itself SO strongly
upon the young girl as when she turned that
morning to look upon the plateau below her.
1t seemed to illustrate the conviction that
had been slowly shaping itself out of her re-
Elections on the conversation of that morning.
1t was possible that the perfect understanding
of higher life was only reached from g
height still greater, and that to those half
way up the mountain the summit was never
| as truthfully revealed as to the humber
dwellers in the valley.
do not know that these profound truths
! prevented her from gathering some quaint
ferns and berries, or from keeping her calm
| gray eyes open to certain practical changes
| that were taking place around her. She had
noticed singular thickening in the atmos
| phere that seemed to prevent the passage Of
the suns rays, yet without diminishing the
transparent quality of the air. The distant
snow peaks were as plainly seen, though they
appeared as if in moonlight This seemed
due to no cloud or mist, but rather to fad
| ing of the sun itself The occasional furry
of wings overhead, the whirling of largel
birds in the cover, and frequent rlstling il
the underground, as of the passage of som'
stealthy animal, began equally to attract hel
attention. 1t was SO different from the ha
bitual silence of these sedate solitudes. Kat,
had no vague fear of wild beasts; she ha6
been long enough a mountaineer to under
stand the general immunity enjoyed by tn
unmolesting wayfarer, and kept her way url
dismayed. She was descending an abrup
trail when she was stopped by a sudden crasl
in the bushes. 1t seemed to come from tn
opposite incline directly in line with her
and apparently on the very trail that sh
was pursuing. The crash was then repeate
again and again lower down, as of a descend
ing body. Expecting the apparition of som
fallen tree, or detached bowlder burstin
through the thicket, in its way to the bottol
of the gulch, she waited. The foliage wa
suddenly brushed aside, and large grizzl
bear half rolled, half waddled, into the ira
on the opposite side of the hill. A few MT
ments more would have brought them fac
to face at the foot of the gulch; when sh
stopped there were not fifty yards betwee
them.
She did not scream; she did not faint; sh
was not even frightened. There did not see,
to be anything terrifying in this huge, stupi
beast, who, arrested by the rustic of a stor
displaced by her descending feet, rose slowl
on his launches and gazed at her with small
} wondering eyes. Nor did it seem strange
her. seeing that he was in her way, to pick u
stone, throw it in his direction and say sin
ply, "Sho! get awayi" as shewould have dor
to an intruding COW. Nor did it seem cd
} that he should actually ego away" as he di
scrambling back into the bushes again an
disappearing like some grotesque figure in
transformation scene. It was not until aft
he had gone that she was taken with sligl
nervousness and giddiness, and retraced Ia
steps somewhat hurriedly. shying little